Brick City

BRICK CITY impressed critics with its insider look at all the issues–from the streets to the halls of the government–effecting a city trying to come back from the edge of destruction. As interesting as the docu-series itself, here’s what the reviews had to say about Season 2.

I like to do a quick scan of Facebook and Twitter before I go to bed. I just can’t sleep if I think I might be last person to know about some sort of Kardashian disaster, a North Korean look like Rafael Nadal. So you can imagine my horror, and concern, when I saw this tweet from Newark Mayor Cory Booker:

@CoryBooker Thanks 2 all who are concerned. Just suffering smoke inhalation. We got the woman out of the house. We are both off to hospital. I will b ok

And thanks to BRICK CITY Executive Producer, Politico) on how the mayor is now a full-fledged superhero! When Booker got home last night, he saw smoke and flames pouring out of the building next door. So he ran in (with his security detail, natch) to look for anybody who might be trapped. Since the building’s residents are his neighbors, Booker knew who he was looking for…a woman who lived in the apartment that was on fire

Get your DVRs ready! BRICK CITY Season 2 premieres this Sunday, January 30 at 8P! We were really excited to welcome Mayor Cory Booker as he brought Brick City to Park City this past week for an exclusive first look at BRICK CITY Season 2 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Read the article. Check…

Forest Whitaker and Newark Mayor Cory Booker (Photo Credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images). For more images from this party, check out the photo gallery.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker was “in the house” on Sunday, which is how he was introduced at a screening of the documentary series BRICK CITY, whose second season premieres next Sunday on Sundance Channel.

Wearing jeans, hiking shoes, and a black zipper-neck sweater, Booker was in non-politician mode as he spoke with the show’s executive producer Forest Whittaker, and co-directors Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin in front of a small audience gathered at the Bing Bar on Main Street. Also in the house: Isabella Rossellini and Rosie O’Donnell, who before the screening was posing with a small rescue dog wrapped up in a snow-suit. “It’s going to be a photo spread, me and my puppy,” O’Donnell joked.

This season of BRICK CITY, which feels like a docu-version of The Wire, focuses more singularly on Booker as he fights for re-election, and faces severe budget-cuts, a rising crime rate, and a faith-losing constituency.

The year “was a battle for him,” Benjamin said of Booker. “Because every incumbent in America is suffering a lot of pushback because of government and dwindling funds and resources for everything… It’s been a tough year for him.”

THE REAL SITUATION IN NEW JERSEY’S LARGEST CITY:
SEASON 2 OF SUNDANCE CHANNEL’S “BRICK CITY” CAPTURES NEWARK’S ROLLERCOASTER RIDE OF CHANGE

Forest Whitaker Executive Produces

New Season Of Peabody Award-Winning Docu-Series Premieres On Sunday, January 30th 2011 at 8pm ET/PT
In Season 2 of the engaging and dramatic series BRICK CITY, change is a rollercoaster of exhilarating highs and heart-in-the-mouth plunges. Sundance Channel’s Peabody Award-winning series returns to Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, to explore a question that people everywhere can understand: how do you continue to change yourself, your community, your city when the setbacks come fast and furious? The six one-hour episodes of BRICK CITY follow Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Police Director Garry McCarthy and Newark citizens from across the socioeconomic spectrum to tell a story of resilience, resolve and optimism in the face of political, economic, and personal upheaval. BRICK CITY Season 2 will air Sundays at 8:00pm from January 30th – March 6th.